


guardians and sad vampires make for odd pairs

by halfwheeze



Series: Lim's Witching Wares [2]
Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series), Buzzfeed: Worth It (Web Series)
Genre: M/M, Mage!Ryan, guardian!Ryan, selkie!adam, vampire!Shane
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-20
Updated: 2018-03-20
Packaged: 2019-04-04 22:58:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14030706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halfwheeze/pseuds/halfwheeze
Summary: in which ryan bergara and shane madej are a mage and a vampire and mutually a car crash in slow motion.





	guardians and sad vampires make for odd pairs

**Author's Note:**

> welcome to the new series! the parts are mostly unrelated, but they're all set in the same universe, so it be like this!

Ryan is just filling in, doing his buddy Steven a favor while Steve goes on some date with some werewolf that Ryan still hasn't met. It's cool, he just guesses that Steven couldn't get Adam to fill in, or maybe the selkie is busy doing something else, like maybe going back to the water for once - Ryan has no idea about anything in Adam's life though. Adam is just Steven's other friend. Ryan is still off on this mental tangent when the doorbell rings, bringing him completely out of his musings. An abnormally tall man stumbles through the shop door and Ryan looks toward the reader to see what he is, even though it still feels like it shouldn't be any of his business. Vampire, the scanner reads. Interesting enough, he supposes. 

“Good evening, let me know if I can help you with anything,” Ryan says in his best customer service voice, the one that Steven actually made him practice with him. The vampire nods but takes a minute to walk up to the counter, kind of looking around the shop oddly. Ryan worries for a ridiculous second that he's casing the place, but any supernatural worth their salt in Los Angeles knows that Lim's Witching Wares is beneath the magical protection of two very powerful magic users and a goddamn selkie. If there was anyone Ryan didn't want to piss off, it would be a selkie. 

"I - uh - Steven told me he would have my burdock tempeh ready when I came in... is he here?" the vampire asks, a unsure hand on the back of his neck, and Ryan is immediately, against his better judgement, worthlessly endeared. Ryan gives a good natured smile just to see if it will calm the other down and is delighted when it seems to, the vampire giving a smile of his own. He looks down at the notes Steven left on the monitor of the computer he set up for Ryan, saying something about keeping it going automatically on his date, even though Ryan doesn't see any of it plugging into anything. 

"Uh, okay, so I don't fill in much. This right here says that you are... Shane Madej? Is that right?" Ryan asks, receiving a nod of confirmation before he continues. "Okay, so, I need to go grab your tempeh from the fridge in the back, and I'll bring that up here in just sec," Ryan tells him, turning immediately on his heel and heading exactly where he said he was going to go. Shane is an adorable name for an adorable vampire and Ryan can't help but want to ask him all kinds of questions. Shane isn't exactly an old-timey name and Ryan wants to know when he was turned, when he was born, wants to know all kinds of things that aren't even close to his business. He hands Shane the tempeh over the counter and wonders if Steven scheduled the date for right now on purpose. Sometimes, it seems like the other magic user is a psychic. 

"Yeah, thanks... I didn't catch your name," Shane says, all smoothness and honey, and Ryan isn't a weak man, but he might be today. Fucking cute ass vampires and their talking and shit. Who has the time? 

"Didn't throw it. It's Ryan. Ryan Bergara. And according to Steven's note, that'll be... '$8.99 for the sad vampire, no tax for the government men' is the exact wording here," Ryan explains with a grin, delighting in the resulting chuckle. Shane Madej looks good with laughter around his eyes, and Ryan wonders how Steven could call him sad. Ryan wonders what could make him sad, and finds an indescribable desire to curse anyone who had ever hurt this vampire he's never met in his life. Gross. Affection and shit. What the fuck? 

"It really says sad vampire? That’s not the first impression I’d particularly like to make with… someone new,” Shane laughs, turning a bit awkward at the end there, like he meant to say something else. Ryan smiles to fill the space of the silence, ringing it up for Steven’s records more than for any need to, and then he holds a hand out for the money. Shane’s fingers touch his in the interaction, both ice cold and with this moment that’s fire hot, though maybe that part is all in Ryan’s head. There’s no reason for him to be having thoughts like that, but he likes the curve of Shane Madej’s smile, the softness of his eyes. 

“It’s not a bad first impression to have. A bit misleading, but it’s all the same,” Ryan remarks as he puts the bills in the register, pulling out a penny to hand the customer. Shane is looking directly at him when Ryan looks up, and he almost startles out of his skin when their eyes meet. There’s something to Shane’s facial expression that makes Ryan feel as if he is stone in his shoes, set on the ground and never to move again. The moment breaks when the bell on the door rings, and Ryan’s eyes flash immediately to the display on the screen: it says  _ selkie.  _ It has to be Adam, which is almost a relief. 

“Ryan, I’m back. You can leave, if you want,” Adam says as soon as he’s in the line of sight, looking between Ryan and Shane. The selkie looks as if he only came out of the water an hour or so ago, mostly dry but still river damp around the edges. Ryan nods and places the penny in Shane’s still outstretched hand, leaving the register open for Adam as he rushes out from behind the counter and walks out of the back door at the most casual pace he can manage. One should think he believes that he’ll never see Shane Madej the sad vampire again as he walks out of the door, but he’s not surprised when Shane falls into step with him as he exits the alleyway. 

“What do you mean it’s misleading, but not a bad first impression?” Shane asks, tone casual and playful but words all concern and a false sense of contentedness. Ryan knows intrinsically, instinctually, that this answer is important to Shane, and that the answer will change the nature of how they react to each other in the future. Ryan considers his words carefully before just going for honesty. He’s never been good at trickery and high thought and lying for any reason. 

“The misleading bit, well, you don’t seem that sad, Shane Madej. But as for it not being a bad first impression? It meant it was that much nicer to make you smile,” Ryan replies, shrugging one shoulder and not looking back at Shane. Because he didn’t look back, he doesn’t notice that Shane has stopped in the middle of the sidewalk for another few steps, lingering by a boutique but not looking in the shop window. Ryan tracks back and raises an eyebrow, putting himself back in line with Shane. “You good?” he asks, grabbing Shane’s attention; the vampire startles and nods, walking again quickly enough that Ryan has to catch up. 

“You want to grab coffee, maybe?” Shane proposes, ducking his head towards the faerie coffee shop down the road from Lim’s Witching Wares. Ryan hesitates. 

“Friend coffee or date coffee?” he asks, open and honest as he knows how to be. Shane laughs, smile light and loose and beautiful. 

“Date coffee. Come on, I’ll buy.” 

**Author's Note:**

> hmu with the prompts on the tumblr @halfwheeze


End file.
